Maine Snow

Since we've been here in Maine we've had about 20 inches of new snow to play in. There was a whopper of a storm that went through this past week that really made things interesting. We got all bundled up and went out to play before the storm had actually passed, forgetting that Lucy really doesn't like the wind in her face, especially when icy little bits of snow are being carried along by that wind. No matter, it was fun to get all cute bundled up in our this season's winter gear.
Not so easy to make your way through 10 inches of fresh powder in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.
Did I say get cute bundled up in this season's winter gear? That applies only to Lucy, as I had on Grandpa's ski suit from 1995. Eric actually questioned the fact that I'd even want this picture taken. What you can't see is that I couldn't zip the ski pants over my belly.
Shorty was not thrilled about the snowy wind either.
At least Daddy was there. Nothing like cuddling in to hide from the weather.

Christmas 2010

After surviving the drive back to Maine, Christmas came pretty quickly. We've been working on building some excitement about Christmas, Santa Claus, etc., with moderate success. Lucy refers to Santa as the Ho-ho, and though I think it's coming, the idea that a stranger is going to show up with some prized on Christmas hasn't yet clicked.

We had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner here in Waterville with my parents, Ryan and Grace, and managed to get to bed before 2am. Luckily, nobody but Grandma and Grandpa are early risers, and around 8:30 am we went down to find the surprises.
Though Grandma had high hopes for the trampoline, it wasn't the hit of the morning. Her favorite was the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and figurines, and she ignored the rest of her presents to play. (Eric actually finished opening her gifts with her on the day after Christmas.)
After the morning whirlwind, we hopped back in the car (total mileage since Ames is around 1950) and headed to Sara and Tim's in Orono for some more family time and an enormous dinner. They put on quite the spread, and it was a full house. Lucy put on a show, no nap and everything, singing and being cute for the family. She had some quality cousin time with Lennon and Jacob, and it was great to see all the wonderful people we've been missing for the past four months.
I'm not sure who had more fun this Christmas: Lucy opening her gifts or Grandma and Mammy buying them for her!

Hey Potty Star

Lucy is doing great on the potty! (as long as we don't ever leave the house and she stays naked) I took a cue from my friend here Sara and Lucy just doesn't ever wear a diaper around the house. Without a diaper she's totally independent; with a diaper she hasn't a clue. This includes big-girl underpants.
Now it's time to take this show on the road! We're packing up today to head to Maine and hoping that all our friends and family don't mind the naked little girl parts everywhere. I promise it's been weeks since she's peed on the floor!

Tink and Friends

Anyone seen Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue? It's a total favorite here. This is Lucy's independent re-creation of the tea party last scene, starring Lucy as Lizzie, with Tinker Bell and Vidia playing themselves.

Midwestern Family

Our first road trip from Iowa was to Kansas City to visit with my wonderful cousins, Rob & Brandy, their kids, Ashlynn & Caroline, Brandy's parents Mimi & Pop Pop, and Brandy's sister Tracy and her family. Lucy and I were adopted right into this wild crowd, so much so that you might not have even known we were not "real" family.

Lucy, for as rambunctious as she normally is, happens to be a great car child. I suppose I had to catch a break somewhere with this one, didn't I? It took us an extra half hour to get on the road because Eric and I fiddled with the DVD player until it worked. The must-have item from our cross-country trip this summer might have finally failed us. It lasted through one disc on the trip, and I gave up. Lucy didn't fuss too much, which was nice, though I can't say I'm excited for the drive back to Maine - 1600 miles!! - without it.
We got to Mimi's house on Saturday afternoon, just in time for the trip into the city to the Crown Plaza. I was promised a spectacular experience and it lived up to all expectations. There is an outdoor ice-skating rink, Rockefeller Plaza style, and Lucy couldn't WAIT to get some skates on. Under present circumstances, I thought ice skating would not be a good idea for me, and so let Rob and Brandy take to the ice with not only their twins but my firecracker as well.
She did awesome. Fearless and thrilled.
I do have an adorable video of Lucy on skates with Brandy, but am having some trouble uploading it.
Then on to the children's village at the Crown Plaza, chock full of big toys to explore. This was really neat for Lucy because it's exactly what she loves - things to run through and climb on.
Some cousin bonding.
And a water and light show with the fountain and Christmas lights. You can tell we're not in Maine here because any water certainly would have been drained out of the fountains before Thanksgiving weekend.
After we'd had our fill of the fun in the plaza and it had started to get cold, we went into the Crayola center to check out the stores and eat at the Crayola Cafe. Nothing terribly impressive about the menu here, but I did get a pretty good salad and it was a nice view over the balcony. Plus Lucy came home with a kid's cup shaped like a crayon.
The crayola store had some fun art activities for the kids to do right there in the store. Lucy kept on grabbing crayons to draw on the other kid's artwork. (We're still working on social conventions). The other kids did NOT appreciate her help.
Note in our photo Lucy is trying to escape and I'm holding her back - this is pretty much how our life goes. I'm not sure if this was before or after we rode up and down the escalator 15 times.
On our way back to Mimi's house, Lucy fell asleep in the car. Ashlynn and Caroline did their best singing at the top of their lungs to wake her up, but to no avail. Lucy was ready with her second wind for a jacuzzi-bubble-bath-tea-party when we got home. Actually, scratch the jacuzzi, Brandi tried to turn on the bubbles at one point and Lucy almost hit the ceiling. (hehe) Tea was served from a collection of shells Mimi kept near the tub. Hello bathing beauties!
Sunday morning, just as any good grandparent visit should be, was dedicated to the greater enjoyment of the kids. Here, this meant a real tea party with real tea. This is Lucy's setting right after she got up and walked away saying "Pretty yucky" about her first sip of sugarless tea. I'm pretty sure that she prefers the bath water.
Finally, our fabulous cousins, Rob and Brandy. Thanks for the great weekend!

Thanksgiving, Iowa Style

We spent a quiet holiday, just the three of us this year. We'd toyed around with getting together with our fabulous neighbors, but they have a week-old baby and we have a severe lack of space and serving dishes, so it worked out okay this way. And didn't even matter so much when Lucy peed on the floor under the table just as we were putting dishes of food out, either. (Still working on the potty star here).

The day started off slow and lazy, like many of our other days. My little Lucy hung around in a diaper through the baking of pies and the start of peeling potatoes and squash.
This is our "low-rent" dinner. I thought it looked pretty good, but Eric things there needed to be some casseroles. I tried to make a green-bean casserole a couple of years ago and failed entirely. No disasters here, though Eric cooked his own ham, mashed the potatoes, and made the gravy, the three likeliest things I would be able to ruin.
Since the potty star is a work-in-progress, every time Lucy makes it she gets a happy sticker on her chart and a chocolate. Since she had three successes before dinner, served right at nap time, her appetite was less than voracious. She sampled a couple of sides and finished her mashed potatoes. No ham-hangover for this kid!
Cheers little (growing) family!
Here is my crowning achievement of the day - two beautiful, delicious, homemade pies. Admittedly I did not make the apple pie crust, but I've tried before and the store-bought ones always taste so much better. The chocolate cream pie is from scratch with a homemade chocolate graham-cracker crust and was fantastic. It was a toss-up which one was better. I had a slice of each and with every bite the pie I was eating was my favorite. Lucy loved the chocolate but wouldn't even hear of a bite of apple. Eric even tried holding her down and shoving some apple pie down her throat, but lost the battle. She doesn't know what she's missing!We hope everyone had a wonderful day!

Grandma's Visit

We were lucky enough to have Grandma for a whole week as she visited us from Maine. She was very clear that she didn't want us to do anything special or different while she was here, but just wanted to spend an average week with us. Literally as soon as she arrived, Grandma teared up just thinking about leaving. But the week stretched out nicely as our stay-at-home Iowa lifestyle lends itself to long days filled with toddler pursuits.

The weather at the start of the week was gorgeous for November, high 60s, so Grandma got to go to our favorite neighborhood park. Lucy impressed her with her ability to jump, climb, and slide. Since we've been coming to this park at least twice a week for three months now, there really isn't much she can't do here.
We also did some walking "the little doggies." I had Shorty on a leash here, and you can see who Grandma is walking. I'm usually a little bit embarrassed to be seen walking my dog and my kid together, but apparently it's not an issue for Grandma. Note the short sleeves in this picture. Beautiful weather little doggie!
Lucy also perfected her "Tink face" with Grandma. This is her mad look, formerly used in our range of emotional expression exercises ("show me your happy face!") but now used independently and given to Grandma on several occasions her behavior was deemed inappropriate. Grandma thought it was a good mimic of Tinker Bell's angry face from the new Tink movies.
We also had lots of fun celebrating Grandma's birthday! It was a big one, but her interest, I'll let you guess which big one it was. Here are Grandma and Lucy opening Grandma's gift that Lucy picked out. Thankfully the stained-glass woman still had one yellow flower left.
This is the beautiful no-bake cheesecake we made (though it was actually pretty good). There were lots of fingerprints in the batter and even a couple in the finished product. One of Lucy's favorite things to sing is happy birthday, and she sang sweetly to Grandma for several days. Proper York birthday etiquette: light candles, sing, blow candles out, and repeat. As many times and you're allowed.
Toward the middle of our week together the weather took a turn, and we got our first real rain here since the first week in September. A perfect chance to try out all of our new rain gear!
But most of all, just like Grandma wanted, we hung around the house and did what we normally do: dishes, laundry, play, make a mess, clean the mess. I'm not sure how Grandma got a picture of me doing the dishes, because I thought she did them all while she was here. I got a little spoiled. Anyone else want to visit and do my chores?
The last day of Grandma's visit was a gymnastics day for Lucy. If you've talked to my mother, you've probably heard about it. Lucy impressed with her usual feats of strength and agility, outshining the other kids in the class. Just add it to the Grandma brag book.
Feel the love! We'll miss you till Christmas Grandma!